Potential Target

Maud had decided more than half a month ago to take advantage of the auction's bustling spectacle to fish in troubled waters.

If the hunting before this point went poorly, he would resolutely abandon the idea.

But the hunting had gone smoothly, and his weapons were plentiful—how could he possibly heed Sunny's warning?

Back in his room, Maud changed into darker clothing, then took out the disguise items he had prepared in advance.

The Death Armband.

The Face Mask.

The inspiration for this preparation came from the Undertaker, Arthur.

Thus, the mask Maud made himself bore a fair resemblance to Arthur's.

The only regret was that he couldn't replicate Arthur's distinctively styled work uniform; otherwise, he might have been able to let Arthur take the fall.

Maud swiftly fastened the Death Armband, put on the mask that only revealed his mouth and eyes, and then checked himself in the mirror.

"Hmm, not bad."

Maud nodded in satisfaction.

Wearing a mask under the guise of the Undertaker was the best form of concealment for the moment.

After disguising himself, Maud inspected his weapons and ammunition.

Two flintlock pistols, a short dagger, and most importantly, [Usopp].

"Thirty lead bullets should be enough."

Maud carefully examined the ammunition pouch.

Once preparations were complete, Maud couldn't wait to head outside.

With practiced ease, he climbed onto the rooftop of the building and made his way toward the nearest tall structure.

Before long, Maud arrived on the roof of a five-story building.

His gaze fixed on the brightly lit streets below—it was hard to imagine such a bustling nightscape coming from a lawless zone teeming with pirates.

"The auction starts at nine. Two hours to go."

Maud sat down unhurriedly.

He had never once considered entering the auction venue.

It wasn't that he feared running into Saul, but rather that he judged the potential risks inside the auction hall to be higher than those outside.

So, as long as he could fish out a few catches from the periphery, he would be satisfied.

Maud didn't plan to act until the auction began.

In his idle time, he took out the notebook Sunny had given him and flipped through it by the moonlight.

The contents of the notebook weren't as extensive as he had imagined; the primary targets were mostly pirates who frequented Mad Hatter Town.

Maud read through it word by word.

Perhaps it was Sunny's habit—before recording the strength information of each target, she would use a few simple phrases to describe their appearance.

Though not as detailed as [The Neighbors'] records, it was enough for Maud to quickly identify a target by their features.

Rustle, rustle—

Maud turned pages from time to time.

He couldn't memorize everything in a short time, so forming a general impression would suffice.

"Oh, Kid's here too."

When he reached Kid's page, Maud was slightly surprised.

Reading carefully, the information leaned more toward speculation.

For instance, based on Kid's persistence in buying guns, it was inferred that Kid was a good shot.

Looking at it as a whole, there was quite a bit of fluff, since most of it was guesswork.

Presumably, Sunny had never witnessed or heard of Kid's strength firsthand, and since Kid came from the outer seas, she knew little about him.

"Right now, Kid probably hasn't eaten a Devil Fruit yet, and his overall strength should still be in its growth phase."

Maud recalled his memories of Kid.

If he had the chance to kill Kid now, Maud might hesitate for a moment, but he certainly wouldn't let the opportunity slip.

Because no matter how high Kid's experience points would climb a few years later, in Maud's eyes, they wouldn't be as valuable as the experience points he could gain now.

He turned to the next page and continued reading.

After flipping a few more pages, Maud suddenly saw his own name, with several lines of description beneath it.

However, every single word was crossed out with two black lines.

At the very bottom of the information, several large question marks stood out conspicuously.

And these question marks were, unsurprisingly, also subjected to the black lines' ruthless treatment.

"These black lines drawn through it make it look like I'm already dead."

Maud shook his head slightly as he looked at the two straight black lines above and below the text, then continued flipping through the pages.

Soon, he reached the end of the entire notebook.

After that, Maud began a second pass to deepen his impressions.

After reading for about an hour, once he had a general grasp of the contents, he put the notebook away.

If he had to pick the most striking entry, it wasn't the extremely dangerous individuals Sunny had specifically marked, but rather the Sharp Bull Pirates where Red belonged.

Because among all the previous prey, only Red's background involved a collective group; the rest were mostly scattered pirates drifting with the tide.

"The Sharp Bull Pirates, huh..."

Maud stood up, gazing at the distant lights, his mind beginning to stir.

His attention to the Sharp Bull Pirates wasn't solely because of Red.

The main reason was that the captain of the Sharp Bull Pirates was a Zoan Devil Fruit user.

From the confirmed intelligence Sunny had recorded, all he knew was that it was one of the types within the Ox-Ox Fruit category.

One of the traits of a Zoan Devil Fruit user was a significant boost to physical constitution, which happened to be the kind of target that could bring Maud the greatest gains.

From this, Maud could roughly infer the combat characteristics of Kazt, the captain of the Sharp Bull Pirates.

Likely, it came down to great strength, high defense, and strong close-combat ability.

To treat such a target as prey, breaking through that defense would be the key point to focus on.

"Too bad there's no bounty poster for Kazt."

Maud muttered to himself, thinking he'd need to find time to collect bounty posters of various pirates.

Otherwise, as it stood now, even though he wanted to prerecord Kazt's name into the Hunter's Notebook, he couldn't do it without a [face image].

On this point, the bounty posters issued by the Navy made things much more convenient for Maud.

They not only had photos but also a full name.

Though there was a chance of error in the name, the probability was extremely low.

"It's about time."

Seeing that there was still an hour before the auction started, Maud stopped waiting and headed straight toward Cape Street.

Bar Street, the alleyway bar.

Led by Kazt, the Sharp Bull Pirates arrived at the entrance of a bar called [Night Color].

The alley wasn't wide, and nearly a hundred men gathered there, instantly clogging it to the point of being impassable.

Kazt glanced at the bar's sign, then strode inside with thirty men.

As for the rest, they surrounded the bar, leaving no gaps.

Inside the bar, the bartender Tatam and Wolf Rat, who was technically a customer, both stared expressionlessly at Kazt and his men, who clearly meant trouble.

From the signature horned helmet and the thick, bushy beard.

With just one look, Wolf Rat recognized Kazt's identity—the captain of the Sharp Bull Pirates.

As for why Kazt had brought his men here, Wolf Rat could guess it with his feet, and he had long since mentally prepared himself.

Slowly swirling his glass, Wolf Rat glanced at the wooden-faced Tatam.

"Sorry about this."

A half-hearted apology.

In response, Tatam remained silent.

Kazt coldly stared at Wolf Rat and said in a deep voice, "Wolf Rat, right? I don't like beating around the bush."

"Oh, I can tell."

Wolf Rat glanced at Kazt's horned helmet.

He wasn't the least bit flustered.